Netflix’s Forever Rich Review: Revenge, Redemption, Loss

Forever Rich (2021) on Netflix is a reality check of what it is like to be a celebrity, the trauma of being famous and everything that costs you in the making of an enviable career and lifestyle. This Dutch thriller is a social satire on the social media culture and how it negatively impacts the life of influencers, singers or any famous artist. Gritty and unfolded over the course of one single devasting night, Forever Rich tries to paint an unapologetic picture of today’s world.

Written and directed by Shady El-Hamus, the film stars Paradise Drifters star Jonas Smulders as the protagonist Rich. The cast also includes Yootha Wong-Loi-Sing, Hadewych Minis, Daniel Kolf and Sinem Kavus. The film has a gripping plotline and runs for 1 hour 30 minutes.

– Netflix’s Forever Rich review contains spoilers –

Forever Rich Review: A Celebrity’s Worst Nightmare

Rich, also called Richie and Rick throughout the course of the film, is a rapper on the rise. A boy from the streets, who came out of nowhere is now signing deals with big labels like, Sony: sounds like the story of every self-made star, right? Forever Rich from the very start makes the premise look real and authentic. Rich, ahead of his big tour, is blessed with surprises and love but, not for long. Over the course of one long night, the rapper is mugged, shamed on social media and pushed on the path of revenge.

Forever Rich gives us the ugly reality of how social media, the hate comments and the cancel culture present on various platforms drives all the wrong motives in a person through humiliation. The lack of sensitivity on these platforms has resulted in similar series of incidents as portrayed in the film and sometimes, even worse.

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Rich’s one viral video of getting robbed makes him a “pussy” on social media which infuriates him to the extent to exact revenge: he kidnaps one of the robbers who is a teenage boy and puts the life of his friends in danger. However, the ugly social media virality game does not stop as the gang of robbers, in possession of Rich’s phone, leak inappropriate pictures and videos from his phone including one where he is seen having sex with another woman while his wife was pregnant.

This becomes a breaking point for Rich, who was chasing the robbers to satisfy his ego until then, is scared as whatever goes up on the internet can destroy his entire life. A revenge-driven Rich, who has by then lost the trust and respect of his wife and friends, meets up with the gang of robbers, gets his belongings and films one of the members getting humiliated by him. However, by the end of the film, Rich never posts the humiliating video of that person showing us his path to redemption.

Forever Rich begins with a video of Rich shot by his mother during his childhood where he confesses that he wants to be famous and a millionaire when he grows up and shows us a happy Rich living his luxurious life, in the present day. The film ends also with the same voice of a young Rich in the background wanting to be famous and a millionaire, but by then we see how the present Rich is devasted and broken down by whatever that has cost him to retain his status as a famous singer, creating a full circle for the audience to contemplate on the downside of a famous life.

Forever Rich: Final Verdict

Forever Rich is a tale of losing the ones you love at the cost of saving a lifestyle you have always dreamt of. It is about the sad social media culture that chokes the souls of millions out there and, ultimately teaches us to be more sensitive and kind towards the content we view on these platforms.

Forever Rich is now streaming on Netflix.

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